Maryland native Frances Tiafoe, wins first round match at Wimbledon

Maryland native Frances Tiafoe, wins first round match at Wimbledon

LONDON -- After losing in the first round at both Queen's and Eastbourne, Frances Tiafoe is loving it at Wimbledon.

The 19-year-old Washington native defeated Robin Haase 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (5), 7-5 in the first round at the All England Club. It was his first tour-level victory since a first-round win in Miami in March.

"Winning at Wimbledon is huge," Tiafoe said. "It meant a lot to me especially the last two weeks, not really winning a match, so peaking here, it definitely means a lot."

Tiafoe, in the main draw of a Grand Slam event for the sixth time, will face Alexander Zverev in the second round. His only other Grand Slam victory was at the Australian Open in January, when he beat Mikhail Kukushkin in the first round before losing to Zverev in straight sets in the second.

1) This year’s World Series and the World Champion Boston Red Sox reveal one thing: moneytalks. According to the Wall Street Journal, both the Red Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers are proofof the “cold reality” that money really does matter in professional baseball. The Red Sox havereached the “third and highest tier of luxury tax spending, investing more than $237 million inpayroll” this season, while no other team in the league comes even close to that. And despitereaching the last two but not winning a World Series in over three decades, the Dodgers “havespent about $1.4 billion in salaries to claim the last six NL West crowns.” The Red Sox, whobested the Dodgers 4-1 this Series, had the league’s highest payroll, thanks to their iconicvenue, deeply-rooted fan base, and an RSN deal valued at more than $8 billion. The Dodgershad the third biggest payroll in the majors. Both of these elite clubs epitomize the currentstate of MLB; smaller market teams will continue to struggle without the right financialinvestments going forward.

2) The World Series just ended, but MLB is already looking toward next season. According toSportsBusiness Journal, the league will roll out a series of innovative programs aimed at helpingplayers “who are interested in being out there, interested in marketing themselves, but makingit easy for them to do.” Social media will be a big area of focus in the offseason, according toMLB Commissioner Rob Manfred. “The trick with players is that things are authentic,” saidManfred. “What we put on social media through our accounts may be really good but when youadd the players’ input or their take on what has happened on social media, it’s way moreimportant to our fans.” The league will be providing players with highlights next season byallowing them to simply grab the content and repost it on their pages. MLB still struggles withyouth engagement and decreasing levels of participation — the social media push is a step inthe right direction to make baseball “cool” again.

3) Midway through the NFL season, Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium is working to finalizemost of its Super Bowl details. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Super Bowl LIII onFebruary 3 will have ultra cheap concessions prices compared to past events and other NFLgames. The stadium’s “much-publicized” food and beverage prices will not change for the SuperBowl; hot dogs will still cost $2, soft drinks and popcorn will still be refillable, and more.Stadium officials noted that they &quot;stipulated in Atlanta’s Super Bowl contract that concessionprices would remain the same as at Falcons games and other stadium events.” The league is stilldeciding whether or not it would be possible to play the game with the sunflower-shaped roofopen. “Open-or-closed is going to change the dynamics of a few things — some of our halftimestuff, some of our pregame stuff,” said NFL VP of Event Operations and Production Jon Barker.“All of that will go into consideration, but…from an NFL standpoint we would love to see itopen.” Just like NFL fans will love to see those cheap food and beer prices come February 3.